Today I’m going to write about an emulsifying additive called polysorbate 80. It’s a subject I’ve wanted to write about for a while. (I know, I’m sad!)
Polysorbate 80 is found in many everyday items we buy, food, drink, cosmetics, drugs and vaccines. I want to show what this ingredient does and why it is put into these products.
It’s important to see from a health perspective what effects these invisible ingredients have on our health.
If for nothing more than to get your grey matter thinking and start asking questions for yourselves.
Questions, like why is a derivative of petroleum which is basically a plastic, put into nearly all of the processed foods, cosmetics and drugs we buy?
What we will discuss today
What is Polysorbate 80?
Is it used in Food, if so what foods?
What pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and other products contain it?
Are there any harmful side effects?
What is Polysorbate 80?
Polysorbate 80 also known as Tween 80, T-80, e433, or Polyethylene Sorbian mono-oleate. The word ‘POLYTHENE’ should really give you an indication of what Polysorbate 80 really is. PLASTIC!
There are a number of similar products in the ‘polyoxyethylene groups’, Polysorbate 20 , Polysorbate 40 , Polysorbate 60 , right up to Polysorbate 80. (1) (2)
Polysorbate 80 is an emulsifier, it is there to thicken things up, like sauces, gravies and ice creams. It’s has the power to mix foods or ingredients together, that would not normally mix together, like water and oil.
It will create ice creams that are smoother and easier to handle and less likely to melt. In fact, most processed food eaten have Polysorbate 80 as an additive.
Food is not the only place you will find Polysorbate 80. The pharmaceutical industry finds Polysorbate 80 indispensable.
Because of its ability to emulsify ingredients it is perfect for mixing liquids to give accurate doses. It is used in many vaccines, heart medications, contraceptives, and anti-cancer treatments.
Some supplements also contain Polysorbate 80 because it also has preservative qualities. Because Polysorbate 80 is very soluble it is used heavily in the cosmetics industry.
It helps to dissolve ingredients that under normal circumstances would stay solid like, liquid soaps, creams or bath gels because it help even the fragrance mixture throughout the product.
Would You Eat Plastic Food?
Polysorbate 80 is a ‘non-ionic surfactant’. Surfactant is a nick name for ‘surface active agents’. It helps create foam by becoming elastic. (3)
From the research I have done, polyoxyethylene (polymers) are made mainly from crude oil though vegetable oils are also used. You must do quite a bit of digging around to see the links as they are called many different names.
Polythene Glycol known as PEG is a compound used in many applications like industrial manufacturing and medicines.
PEG is also known as polyethylene oxide (PEO) or polyoxyethylene (POE) (4). Polysorbate 80 is classed as a micro plastic along with over 100 others. (5)
What we see in the images below are a brief list of micro plastics, some are proven to be harmful to human, animal, plant and aquatic life.
I think its safe to say that Polysorbate 80 is a plastic. Plastics infiltrate our endocrine system, changing hormones causing premature aging.
‘Polysorbate 80 is basically an organic compound of acids and alcohols (esters) of a combined molecule (copolymer) of glycerine (a sweet syrupy alcohol) and a polyhydric alcohol (a radical attached to a petroleum product)’ (6)
Why would our governments allow this to happen?
How does Polysorbate 80 Enter the Body?
Polysorbate 80 can be taken in various ways.
Ingested, via foods, liquids, supplements or drugs (prescription & OTC)
Transdermal absorption, from cosmetic creams and chemical applications to skin
Injected, Polysorbate 80 is part of several vaccines
Inhaled, through powders and vapours
Polysorbate 80 is an ‘Excipient’
An excipient is an inactive substance that serves as the vehicle or medium for a drug or other active substances.
“Excipients are things like colouring agents, preservatives, thickeners, emulsifiers and fillers” (7)
How does Polysorbate 80 Affect the Body?
Polysorbate 80 is an inactive ingredient, it is the vehicle that carries the active ingredient into areas of the body.
An active ingredient in a vaccine for instance is an antigen (bacteria or virus).
But because the nature of Polysorbate 80 (and other emulsifiers) is to mix ingredients that would not normally mix together.
It also drags in with it all the other ingredients. Like, aluminium, mercury, formaldehyde etc.
Polysorbate 80 has been proven to directly target the brain, which we will get in to next.
Polysorbate 80 Breaking The Blood Brain Barrier (BBB)
The BBB is part of the ‘neuroimmune system’ (8) and is a semipermeable membrane (9), meaning it only allows certain things to pass, but keeps unwanted or unrequired things out.
The BBB blocks un-needed toxic substances from gaining access into the fluid of the central nervous system (CNS) (10)
The CNS’s functions are vast, it controls memory, speech, thought, movements, sensations and awareness and much more.
If breached with toxic materials, you can see where issues will arise. And that is precisely what polysorbate 80 does. It opens the castle gates, lifts the portcullis and calls off the archers.
It is the Trojan horse bringing unwanted attackers inside the body or more accurately the brain. There is a lot of evidence to show that Polysorbate 80 is used to deliver drugs to the brain.
The problem is it also does the same with food, drink & cosmetics, it drags everything mixed in the product directly to the BBB then into the brain, where they lodges to create havoc.
Here’s an excerpt from a good source www.researchgate.net (11)
“It was reported that nanoparticles with polysorbate 80 (Tween 80, T-80) coating represented tools used for delivering drugs to brain. Nevertheless, disputations were once aroused for some complications.
Aimed to have a better understanding of the specific role of T-80 coating on nanoparticles and simplify the problem, the direct observation of brain targeting combined with in vivo experiments was carried out in this work using the model nanoparticles (MNPs).
The presence of a complex composed by the model loading, T-80 and nanoparticles was found in the preparation of MNPs. The result was further supported by some surface properties of MNPs. Being bound to nanoparticles that were overcoated by T-80 later, was necessary for the loading to be delivered to brain.
Partial coverage was enough for T-80 coating to play a specific role in brain targeting. It seemed that brain targeting of nanoparticles was concerned with the interaction between T-80 coating and brain micro-vessel endothelial cells.
“Therefore, the specific role of T-80 coating on nanoparticles in brain targeting was confirmed”
The BBB & CNS deserve articles of their own.
So what products is Polysorbate 80 Used In?
It seems that manufacturers disguise Polysorbate 80, it is used with other products. I’ll use the term hidden in plain sight.
Here are a few.
Johnson & Johnson, (13) (14) Additives PEG-80 Sorbitan Laurate, PEG-150 Pentaerythrityl Tetrastearate.
Johnson and Johnson use this in products for babies at bath time bubbles and hair conditioner.
Product Examples
JOHNSON’S® No More Tangles™ Kids Conditioner
JOHNSON’S® Bedtime Bath for kids
J&J The Family Company, have a sales turnover of $100bn (2019) revenues, and a market cap of $376.85bn.
In 2018 they were ordered to pay $4.7bn in damages because asbestos was found in in their famous talcum powder, and shown to be causing cervical cancer. (15)
Is this a company you can trust?
Colgate toothpaste, Ben and Jerrys ice cream, Additive Carrageenan. Polysorbate 80 is used to sperate sheeted carrageenan and salts of carrageenan from drying rolls. (12) Some Brands that use carrageenan.
Colgate-Palmolive Market cap of $67.61bn, sales revenues of $16bn
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has sales revenues of $150m
I could obviously go on and on, but I think I shown enough here, next we will look at the negative effect it is having on our health.
Research Studies and Health Issues
So, we have established beyond reasonable doubt that Polysorbate 80 breaks the BBB, in fact it is actively used to do within the pharmaceutical industry.
But what health issues are there, and are there any research studies?
European Medicines Agency
There are 42 pages on the leaflet regarding Polysorbates. (16), here is 1 paragraph.
Tumour Promotion/Tumour Growth Inhibition
‘Numerous reports are available on tumour promotion and carcinogenesis by polysorbates after 415 application to the skin. Polysorbate effects on the skin that have been linked to tumour enhancement 416 were the induction of epidermal hyperplasia (possibly due to its effect on biological membranes), 417 inhibition of DNA repair, or facilitation of direct contact of a carcinogen with mucosal cell surfaces ‘
Once you read this part all bets are off, I’m afraid, this individual report was in 1984, 36 years ago. And we are still using it in sunscreens?
Sunscreens can contain Polysorbate 80. Here’s an example.
L’Oreal, owner of Lancome & Garnier – Market Cap of €157.48bn and annual sales of €29.87bn.
Lancome, Product Absolue Soft Cream. (17)
Contains, PEG-100 Stearate & C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer
Garnier, Ambre Solaire Ultra-Hydrating Shea Butter Sun Protection Cream SPF50+ 200ml
In this sunscreen are many harmful chemicals, but we will zero in on just 2 today.
Contains, PEG-100 Stearate & C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer.
These are basically plastics we are putting on our skin as beauty products or as a sunscreen.
This plastic is then absorbed or melted into our skin through our pores.
Is it any wonder there is so much disease?
Eating plastic is not at the top of my agenda. Which part of this enhances the human race? Polysorbate 80 has disaster written all over it.
It is not just this product, it is a common trait of more less everything we eat, drink, wash with, or get prescribed. We are literally swimming in toxic waste.
How did we get here?
Globally cancer kills 10 million people every year. That’s a lot of people, Polysorbate 80 is one thing that opens the door of possibility.
It allows toxins to enter our brains. Think about that how many people are living with mental issues, like Dementia?
‘Worldwide, around 50 million people have dementia, and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year.
Polysorbates are not the only emulsifiers that are used, some are beneficial, and help bioavailability of nutritional products for example. I think this subject deserves a roots up article which will finish off and cover all of these emulsifying products/chemical
References
- https://www.bellchem.com/news/polysorbate-80
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysorbate
- https://go.drugbank.com/drugs/DB11063
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_glycol
- https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Orange-List_new_ECHA.pdf
- http://www.eatingrealfood.com/articles/polysorbate-80/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excipient
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/neuroimmune-system
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipermeable_membrane
- https://www.emedicinehealth.com/anatomy_of_the_central_nervous_system/article_em.htm
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8690647_Specific_role_of_polysorbate_80_coating_on_the_targeting_of_nanoparticles_to_the_brain
- https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/172.623
- https://www.johnsonsbaby.co.uk/johnsons-bedtime-bath?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GO-GB-ENG-PS-Johnson%27s%20Baby-BP-EX-RN-Wash&utm_content=Bath&utm_term=johnson%20and%20johnson%20bath&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIocab2cbV7AIVCLrtCh1dkgL3EAAYASAAEgJplvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#ingredients
- https://www.johnsonsbaby.co.uk/our-mission/ingredients
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/talcum-powder-cancer-johnson-and-johnson-damages-lawsuit-ovarian-causes-asbestos-a8445286.html
- https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/scientific-guideline/draft-information-package-leaflet-regarding-polysorbates-used-excipients-medicinal-products-human_en.pdf
- https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/scientific-guideline/draft-information-package-leaflet-regarding-polysorbates-used-excipients-medicinal-products-human_en.pdf
- https://go.drugbank.com/drugs/DB11063